Shut in or shut out? Modern Hermits & Anchorites (Hikikomori)

[Naga_Fireball]

Unknown - Octave Uzanne, Le Livre, Paris, A. Quantin, 1885.

Front page of Le Misanthrope (1666) by Molière (1622-1673)

Dear forum adventurers,

for some reason this evening, I was thinking about Hermits (eremites, anchorites, recluses, etc.).

The AI thread (of Spiritwind?) really does start to delve into psychology, and of course, techno-revolution is more about change itself than the specific vehicles of change (to me); about keeping the organics (us humans! haha) off-balance and always in "catch-up" mode rather than "exemplary mode", if that makes sense. How can we "shine/pop/bling" if we are obsolete?

What I'm saying in short is that the technological revolution has robbed many people of their individualism, by overexposure, it cheapens their pure will to succeed and thrive; on the other hand it also leaves people without a place to hide, in the event that society overwhelms them, (because of phones and the internet, etc).

Those who enjoy social life and its challenges can find themselves over exposed (as friends on larger sites find themselves exposed), and those who just want to be left alone have a harder time finding that quiet place without feeling danger (not sure if anyone read BR's thread about mountain hiking and end of life premonitions. Ouch).

Also, given the lack of time in which to enjoy silence, and the lack of silence itself in this technologically bent world of ours,
there is less importance given to the wisdom/advice/presence of the withdrawn Saint. Fewer and fewer people know to seek him (or her) out.

I guess some of you would call this the Sovereign Self. Right? The model hermit. What dreams may come when every day is an empty slate,
free from materialism and social pressures.

Does the modern world leave any space for the occurrence of this person?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misanthropy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recluse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit#An ... nchoresses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hermi ... ot_card%29
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Discouragement in Japan:

Hikikomori (ひきこもり or 引き籠もり Hikikomori?, literally "pulling inward, being confined", i.e., "acute social withdrawal") is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement. The term hikikomori refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general as well as to people belonging to this societal group. Hikikomori have been described as recluses, loners, or "modern-day hermits."[1]

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defines hikikomori as people who refuse to leave their house and, thus, isolate themselves from society in their homes for a period exceeding six months.[2] The psychiatrist Tamaki Saitō defines hikikomori as "A state that has become a problem by the late twenties, that involves cooping oneself up in one’s own home and not participating in society for six months or longer, but that does not seem to have another psychological problem as its principal source."[3] More recently, researchers have suggested six specific criteria required to "diagnose" hikikomori: 1) spending most of the day and nearly every day confined to home, 2) marked and persistent avoidance of social situations, 3) symptoms interfering significantly with the person’s normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, 4) perceiving the withdrawal as ego-syntonic, 5) duration at least six months, and 6) no other mental disorder that accounts for the social withdrawal and avoidance.[4]

While the degree of the phenomenon varies on an individual basis, in the most extreme cases, some people remain in isolation for years or even decades. Often hikikomori start out as school refusals, or futōkō (不登校?) in Japanese (an older term is tōkōkyohi (登校拒否?).

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Disagreement between Jewish and Catholic authorities on hermits is a known thing, although there are examples of Jewish rabbis who practiced seclusion:

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, the Baal Shem Tov's great-grandson, also spent much time in seclusion and instructed his disciples to set aside at least one hour a day for secluded contemplation and prayer. Some followers of Rabbi Nachman devoted themselves to seclusion, such as Rabbi Shmuel of Dashev and two generations later, Rabbi Abraham Chazan.

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The Waite version of the card shows an old man carrying a staff in one hand and a lit lantern containing a six-pointed star in the other. In the background is a wasteland. Just beyond the wasteland is a mountain range.

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"Desert Theology" (Sorry this is so Christian but it gives a good example of what the science fiction writer Frank Herbert might have said about his fictional Fremen and Zensunni Wanderers):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_ ... irituality

Desert spirituality is a way of seeking God that is characterized by the "desert theology" of the Old Testament that is at the very heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition, namely God keeping his People wandering for 40 years in the desert,[1] and also throughout the subsequent centuries repeatedly calling them into the desert, as a testing ground where they may experience a change of heart and, by proving themselves obedient to his ordering of human living, accept him, their Creator, again as their Lord.

In New Testament times it is likewise for the reason of proving his obedience that Jesus of Nazareth underwent testing in the desert (cf. Matthew 4:1-11 = Mark 1:12-13 = Luke 4:1-13).

The Christian eremitic vocation has the same purpose, as the name hermit applied to those that embrace it indicates.

Among those most widely known for living a desert spirituality during the early Christian centuries is St Anthony of Egypt (251-356). He lived as a hermit for ten years, practiced asceticism for his whole life, and grew his own food for sustenance.

From the life of someone alone being dedicated to seeking God in the desert, which is the earliest form of Christian monasticism, the monastic life in community has emerged, although the eremitic vocation continues as a distinct way of seeking God even today.

In practical terms this spiritual quest is pursued through prayer in solitude and asceticism.

Some adherents of desert spirituality – whether as eremitic or cenobitic monastics, or as Christian faithful outside the religious life – practise centering prayer. Though seriously disputed as anachronistic and of modern, Eastern origin, this practice is in truth prominent in Catholic practice (at least) as early as the 13th century, as evinced by works such as The Cloud of Unknowing - written anonymously in Middle English by a Catholic monastic. This is meditation on a single, sacred word that is meant to draw the believer closer to God by withdrawing compulsive infatuation with particular sensory objects and conceptual constructions

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Desert Gods

I've bashed Set worshipers before, for not being overt,
but in actuality it seems to me that Set represents Evolution in the harshness of the wild,
the order within chaos that the wilderness itself puts into motion.

No wonder this deity is seen as the guide of the ship of Osiris.
In this, Set can be said to resemble Hermes,
the guide of souls.

Set /sɛt/ or Seth (/sɛθ/; also spelled Setesh, Sutekh,[1] Setekh, or Suty) is the god of the desert, storms, chaos, evil, strength and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion.[2] In Ancient Greek, the god's name is given as Sēth (Σήθ). Set is not, however, a god to be ignored or avoided; he has a positive role where he is employed by Ra on his solar boat to repel the serpent of Chaos Apep.[2] Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant.[2] He was lord of the red (desert) land where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the black (soil) land.[2]

In Egyptian mythology, Set is portrayed as the usurper who killed and mutilated his own brother Osiris. Osiris' wife Isis reassembled Osiris' corpse and resurrected him long enough to conceive his son and heir Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set, and the myths describe their conflicts. The death of Osiris and the battle between Horus and Set is a popular theme in Egyptian mythology.

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"Survivor" or Relic?

Although old hat in 2015, the TV series "Survivor" taps deeply into modern humanity's unexpressed need to be alone,
to be tested by raw nature, to go "into the desert for 40 days" and "survive"... ooo...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_%28TV_series%29

The social individuals who participated in this game were usually pretty popular,
but the ones who were successful, were not necessarily social...



I'm not very good at this kind of writing, but it's interesting to me how hard it is to survive in the modern world without bowing to it.

[Naga_Fireball]

Kriophoros Hermes (which takes the lamb), late-Roman copy of Greek original from the 5th century BC. Barracco Museum, Rome

p.s. a quick reply:

in Japan the phenomenon of "checking out" is so bad that the economy is feeling the impact.
they are only starting to receive generation 2 of these disabled folks.

and the average age of these folks, if you care not to guess,
is about 31.

SO yes it's pretty serious.

My question is, how does the modern world provide the solitude and meaning to these people,
when in the past this role was filled by religions?

Although a wonderful tool, too much internet can cause people to go crazy,
so people who spend time indoors (shut in) but online don't specifically count as a hermit, at least to me,
it's more like being a sorcerer lol (because they traffic with online entities).

XD

Ferdinand Barth - Goethe's Werke

Illustration of Der Zauberlehrling. From: German book, "Goethe's Werke", 1882, drawing by Ferdinand Barth (1842–1892)

At the Boeotian city of Tanagra, Pausanias relates a local myth that credited the god with saving the city in a time of plague, by carrying a ram on his shoulders as he made the circuit of the city's walls:

There are sanctuaries of Hermes Kriophoros and of Hermes called Promachos.[1] They account for the former surname by a story that Hermes averted a pestilence from the city by carrying a ram round the walls; to commemorate this Calamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram upon his shoulders. Whichever of the youths is judged to be the most handsome goes round the walls at the feast of Hermes, carrying a lamb on his shoulders.[2]

The myth may be providing an etiological explanation of a cult practice, carried out to avert miasma, the ritual pollution that had brought disease, a propitiatory act whose ancient origins had become lost but had ossified in this iconic motif. Reflections of Calamis' lost Hermes Kriophoros may be detectable on Roman coinage of the city.

Lewis R. Farnell[6] placed this Hermes Kriophoros foremost in Arcadia:

"As Arcadia has been from time immemorial the great pasture-ground of Greece, so probably the most primitive character in which Hermes appeared, and which he never abandoned, was the pastoral. He is the lord of the herds, epimélios[7] and kriophoros, who leads them to the sweet waters, and bears the tired ram or lamb on his shoulders, and assists them with the shepherd's crook, the kerykeion."

[Naga_Fireball]

(Elder Scrolls games have a lot of pastoral/rural elements in them, and I guess that along with the recent solitude got me thinking about the meaning of life lol)

Ah yes, "The pastoral and the sublime":




p.s. in the DC comic series "Kingdom Come", illustrated by Alex Ross (drool), Superman is presented as having become a hermit in extremis.
IS DC saying the Man of Steel is ASD???

p.p.s. the Tanagra story in the post above this one, (I can no longer edit haha),
is important because of the element of the wall and the sacrificial ram.

In Christian tradition, the Hermit or Anchorite would build his/her cell on the wall of the church/temple.

Similarly in Hermetic tradition, the sacrificial lamb was paraded along the wall of the city.
The pestilence that would have struck down the general population was intercepted by the sacrifice.

This is similar to the Moses story about strange fire in the tabernacle;
during the 40 years in the wilderness post Egypt, at one point the Hebrews mobbed together and decided everyone, not just the priests, was gonna burn incense in front of the tabernacle tent of the Presence.

They started dying like flies when the aggressive presence of the Ark of the covenant struck them down.
Moses had to take up a wooden staff and run, not walk but RUN, into the crowd to overcome the messenger of death and restore order.

Very Hermetic and very interesting.

[Naga_Fireball]

Keeping it together when the world tries to tear you apart:

the story of Corrie ten Boom, whose early life as a healing presence during the Holocaust,
and her later life as the "Tramp for the Lord" sharing her story of overcoming imprisonment by the Nazis,
inspires me a great deal in considering that sometimes Hermits are called out to leave their comfort zone,
and enter battle between Good and Evil.

The ten Booms lived along a "prayer wall" of family tradition, love, and honor;
this spiritual wall was shattered by the Nazi invasion, but the spirit of the Ten Boom family survived.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidin ... ography%29

The family had strong morals based on Christian beliefs, and they felt obligated to help their Jewish friends in every way possible. The Beje soon became the center for a major anti-Nazi operation. Corrie, who had grown to think of herself as a middle-aged spinster, found herself involved in black market operations, using stolen ration cards, and eventually hiding Jews in her own home.

Corrie suffered a moral crisis over the lying, theft, forgery, and bribery that was necessary to keep the Jews her family was hiding alive. Moreover, it was unlikely that her family would get away with helping Jews for long, as they had nowhere to hide them. The Dutch underground arranged for a secret room to be built in the Beje, so the Jews would have a place to hide in the event of an inevitable raid.

It was a constant struggle for Corrie to keep the Jews safe; she sacrificed her own safety and part of her own personal room to give constant safety to the Jews. Rolf, a police officer friend, trained her to be able to think clearly anytime in case the Nazis invaded her home and started to question her.

If it had not been for dear Rolf, Corrie would not have had the tools to face her enemies.
Although true hermits don't interact with members of the community in this way,
it's interesting to see how carefully Corrie managed her personal energy to maximize her ability to help others when they came.

In my life there is a large energy loss going on.
It would be good, considering I'm not even old yet, to figure out how to plug the leak and regain personal sovereignty.
without a parade of doctors and such.


The magic of the Hermit seems to be his eternal Readiness.

[Naga_Fireball]

Sorry this thread wandered so much!! It could have gone for 40 years (hehe)

But the mere purity of the true hermit humbles and astounds me:

One of the Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel of Christoval, Texas walks and prays at sunrise. (Photo: Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel)

Modern-Day Hermits: Answering the Call to Solitude, Prayer
October 28, 2013
While we might think of hermits as relics of the Church’s medieval past, today there are many who devote their lives entirely to solitary prayer.
Leslie Fain

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item ... rayer.aspx

When Sister Mary Diana, 83, of Springfield, Oregon, became a consecrated hermit almost 40 years ago, she was among the first in the US. “There were some, but not like what you’ve got now,” said Sister Mary Diana, who lives with Sister Mary Magdalene, 89, who was also among the country’s first hermits.

If the ease with which hermits and hermitages can be found on the Internet is any indication, more and more people are discerning the call to a life of prayer and solitude with God.

To what does Sister Mary Diana attribute the increase in hermitic vocations? “Let’s hope it is out of pure love of God, and wanting to spend time with him every day of your life.”

One reason for an increase in the hermitic life is the fact that when Canon 603 was promulgated in 1984, it allowed bishops to accept within their own dioceses hermits who were not affiliated with religious orders.

Canon law allows men and women like Maria, who is now in her 60s and who spent the better part of her adult life raising children, the opportunity to discern whether they have a call to the hermitic life.

It was disappointing to Maria to learn that most Catholic women’s religious orders would not accept her because of her age. Becoming a hermit, however, will give her the chance to partake in the religious life.

Maria, who lives on the Gulf Coast, thinks the increase in hermits may also be a sign of the times. “The call was answered in the early Church when there was heresy and persecution,” she said. “The world had become so wicked; people could not exist in it anymore.”

She said it may also be indicative of the loss of religious orders. “Maybe the Holy Spirit is renewing the hermitic life to bring back the orders we need.”

Sister Mary Diana agreed that some may be turning to the hermitic life because of the culture’s moral decay. “You cannot do anything politically because the cards are stacked against you,” she said, but added that prayer, on the other hand, is always a good option, because it is always successful.

Is the hermitic life lonely?

Although it would be easy to imagine the hermitic life as a lonely one, Sister Mary Diana cheerfully dispels that idea. “How could you ever get lonely in the Lord’s presence?” she asks.

For the prospective modern Hermit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblate

An oblate in Christian monasticism (especially Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist) is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Currently, oblate has two meanings:

Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally living in general society, who, while not professed monks or nuns, have individually affiliated themselves with a monastic community of their choice. They make a formal, private promise (annually renewable or for life, depending on the monastery with which they are affiliated) to follow the Rule of the Order in their private life as closely as their individual circumstances and prior commitments permit. Such oblates do not constitute a separate religious order as such, but are considered an extended part of the monastic community, and as such also often have the letters OblSB[1][2] after their names on documents. They are comparable to the tertiaries associated with the various Orders of friars.

"Oblate" is also used in the official name of some religious institutes as an indication of their sense of dedication.